Where in the World is Rev. Al? Too Busy to Speak About Dunbar Village?

Rev. Al, our favorite pompadoured preacher is part of the League of the Immorally Indifference. Despite knowing about Dunbar Village and the fact that the City of West Palm Beach, FL has basically abandoned the poor Black residents and left them without police protection, he is still RADIO SILENT. He can issue a statement on behalf of dogs, but not Black women. He's busy doing other things(scroll down). and he is supposed to be the Decency Czar?

You can wish Rev. Al a very happy B-day by sending him e-mail at crisis@nationalactionnetwork.net

Or why don't you just call, wish him happy B-day and then ask him when we can expect a statement about Dunbar Village? Phone: (212) 690-3070

Or you can call RACHEL and his press office at 212-876-5444

Its only been like four months already.

Latest on Dunbar Village - West Palm Beach STILL Stuck on Stupid as Poor Black Women Left to Fend off Anarchy Alone

I try to keep up with latest in the Dunbar Village gang rape and the aftermath in West Palm Beach, Florida and I continue to be AMAZED that the lunacy in Florida hasn't made National news . West Palm Beach is a microcosm of what can happen when government fails to fulfill its fundamental responsibility to keep the peace and preserve public safety. Not tourism and conventions, not real estate development, not even parks and recreation. If you can't engage in shared defense, then you don't really need government. For all of you who keep asking "How could something like Dunbar Village Happen?," my reply is because of idiocy like this:

On the local level, think of West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel. After the Dunbar Village rape, she bused neighborhood residents to a secure location so Post reporters and TV cameras wouldn't see those Dunbar residents criticize her for ignoring them for so long. Source

She has said that she has had Dunbar Village on her "radar" since she was elected. Well if it was on her radar, then WHY did she let them live in total darkness at night because all the street lamps were shot out. Why are donated air conditioners sitting piled up because she hasn't gotten around to having city workers install them or asking volunteers to assist in installation. WHY in the aftermath of this crime when she had a sliver of national and international media attention did she not use that opportunity to ask the public to assist in the apprehension of ten gang rapists running round her city? Why has she allowed her police chief, a Black woman, to say that $1,000 is the largest reward they should offer in a case that is a crime against humanity and a crime against nature? Why did the commissioners of West Palm Beach spend 164 MILLION dollars building a palatial office tower and recently authorized $40 Million for a tourist promenade, but won't spend $1 for increased police patrols in a high-crime area where 90% of the households are headed by single Black mothers? Why has the League of the Immorally Indifferent been silent while the Mayor of West Palm Beach and the Governor of Florida have left these poor Black women to rot and die, fending for themselves and their children while being turned into prey by the neighborhood criminals?

Here are some more Dunbar Village Headlines:

One of the defendant's request for a DNA expert was denied - As incompetent as the Chief of Police, Delsa Bush, appears to be, I am frightened to think about how they may have handled DNA evidence.

The Palm Beach Post asks "Is there a leader in the house?", West Palm Beach officials say "Um NO!" Symphony, a WAOD contributor was there. Here is her take on it.

Violence in that part of Florida is still Out of control:

"Miss," she said, clutching her books, "the violence in my neighborhood is really out of control. I hear gun shots all the time, and I know people in my neighborhood have died because of it." Today, more than ever, young people in our communities face violence to a degree that was once unfathomable.SOURCE

UNFATHOMABLE! and the the politicians don't care about fulfilling the most basic duty of government, shared defense ie PUBLIC SAFETY!

The Next Wave - The League of the Immorally Indifferent Done up YouTube-style.

This message was prepared by one of my readers. Hmmm, I don't think the West Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce is going to be too happy with this...neither is Rev. Al, or the Mayor and Police Chief of WPB or the Public Housing Director or NOW, or the NCNW or NAACP, cable news...... Pass it along folks and if you come up with a YouTube clip of your own to deal with the League of Immoral Indifference, send it on. If ever there was a need for a multimedia display of outrage, this is the time. For background on the incident in the message you can read: Dunbar Village:RAZE IT TO THE GROUND AND SALT THE EARTH SO THAT NOTHING WILL GROW THERE! ( I was definitely in STAGE TWO) Apparently somebody agrees with me.... except for the salt the earth portion.

Realizing that jumping up and down on a soap box was not sufficient to address the tragedies we have been posting about for the past week, some of the WAOD readers have taken matters into their own hands to move from talking about it to walking about it.

If nothing more, the National Day of Shame and the League of Immoral Indifference demonstrate a need for African American women to stand up and speak up and form their own alliances/organizations/networks whatever you want to call em to address the indifference for crimes committed against Black folk in general and black women in particular.

People have asked repeatedly why focus on the usual suspects. Well sometimes you have to make a case and you need evidence. If nothing else, we got the NAACP to state for the record that they don't view the fact that 50% of the homicide victims in this country are African American to be an impediment to the "Advancement of Colored People." We also got their spokesperson to admit that if the Dunbar Village gang rape had been committed by White men, then the NAACP would probably have gotten involved at a national level. (Mr. McIntyre was either really arrogant, or really stupid. In any event someone on the NAACP 1064-member governing board needs to pull him to the side and whisper " It might be true, but you ain't supposed to tell folks that!")

We'll keep after the League of Immoral Indifference, but folks are also trying to organize so that Black women can cut out the middle men and women and force change on our own.

To learn more about organizing for change, to to the Black Women's Network Board.

Enough is enough. The Foolishness must end.

P.S. Our Shaming Campaign Continues......Click Here for a List of the Immorally Indifferent and here for the The Sisterhood of Silence. Keep calling and writing e-mails even if you did the same thing last week. Clearly they haven't gotten a clue yet.

The Five Stages of Grief- The League of the Immorally Indifferent on Dunbar Village,Newark, Chauncey Bailey, Stepha Henry... I'm at Stage Two

Five Stages of Grief

1. Denial and Isolation.
   At first, we tend to deny the loss has taken place, and may withdraw from our usual social contacts. This stage may last a few moments, or longer.
2. Anger.
   The grieving person may then be furious at the person who inflicted the hurt (even if she's dead), or at the world, for letting it happen. He may be angry with himself for letting the event take place, even if, realistically, nothing could have stopped it.
3. Bargaining.
   Now the grieving person may make bargains with God, asking, "If I do this, will you take away the loss?"
4. Depression.
   The person feels numb, although anger and sadness may remain underneath.
5. Acceptance.
   This is when the anger, sadness and mourning have tapered off. The person simply accepts the reality of the loss.

Last week I finally wrote on Dunbar Village on this blog even though I had read about it in the blotter in an online newspaper. almost a month ago while I was in the middle of a minor dust up with a certain network over a certain show. Needless to say reading the sketchy details at the time depressed me and made me very sad, luckily I was in the middle of what I thought at the time was the battle of my life, fighting with a morally reprehensible television network over their continued pattern of offering morally repugnant programming. So I was able to escape the horror of Dunbar Village temporarily. Sure I read about it at Mirror on America I might have even left a comment about it, but as a woman, I just couldn't wrap my head around it until a little over a week ago.

A week ago, I was pointing out the double standard in the African American community when Black girls and Black women are sexually assaulted by Black males. I talked about the fact that many in the African American community don't believe in statutory rape, or any kind of rape where the victim is not scratching and clawing out the eyes of their attacker. That is why when a 13 or 14 year old girl is allegedly taped with a R&B artist, a grown man, and her tape is distributed on the street corners of America, we turn our heads and go out and buy his latest album. Or why when a girl is violated by 5 to 6 African American boys while she is passed out drunk on the bed, folks blame her for having gone to the hotel room in the first place and ignore the fact that the little cretins videotaped their bad acts. Folks blame the teen girls for being fast and don't count what happened to her as a crime because the absence of "NO" automatically means "YES" even if the state says "HELL NO!" on the books.

That is why when a 15 year old girl becomes the entertainment for a group of 17 and 18 year old boys by letting them videotape her performing sex acts on them, a candidate for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES comes to the aid of the boys, when long arm of the law catches them in a choke hold. That is why a candidate for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES can try to recast the statutory rape of a 15 year old girl as a scene out of Romeo and Juliet and her violators as Steven Urkle. We can debate the length of sentences, but please let's not throw the statutory rape statutes under the bus in this age where everybody wants to be Larry Flint and a porn producer, teen girls are more vulnerable than ever except this time, there will be video tapes and photos instead of just bad memories that haunt them the rest of their lives.

I wish someone would tap that PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE on the shoulder and ask him to reconsider and try to figure out just what his definition of "rape" is because he clearly can't grasp the fact that a 15 year old in many states can't have "consensual sex" so he really needs to stop using that term in his defense of a convicted child molester. They might also ask him if a drunk passed out 17 year old can consent or a female inmate can consent to sex with a prison guard.... in many states none of these women can "consent" and you know that MR. Harvard Law Graduate! This is what happens when you try to out-Sharpton Al Sharpton. Moral Inconsistency!

In the midst of being outraged over the lack of outrage over R. Kelly and Genarlow Wilson, one of my frequent readers and commentators mentioned Dunbar Village. By then I had apparently worked my way through stage ONE and had move on to stage TWO ( Read 'Dunbar Village: RAZE IT TO THE GROUND AND SALT THE EARTH SO THAT NOTHING WILL GROW THERE!). I later found out that lots of Black female bloggers hadn't been able to write about it either until discussions broke out weeks after it was first reported.

Denying the feelings, and failing to work through the five stages of grief, is harder on the body and mind than going through them. When people suggest "looking on the bright side," or other ways of cutting off difficult feelings, the grieving person may feel pressured to hide or deny these emotions. Then it will take longer for healing to take place.(SOURCE)

So yeah, I am in stage TWO, but throughout history people in stage TWO have gotten a whole lot of things accomplished. The memory of past crimes and atrocities committed against innocents or the over matched has been the rallying cry for some of the most historic battles in history. Stage TWO is just fine with me. I can be ticked off and still accomplish my goals. Just like the folks in Montgomery were ticked off enough to walk instead of riding the bus, or Linda Brown's parents were ticked off to risk their lives and join a little lawsuit some folks were filing, or the folks were ticked off about Emmett Till. You can get a lot accomplished in the process of being TICKED OFF!

Lots of folk are apparently in stage TWO. Not just over Dunbar Village, but over Newark, and Chancey Bailey, Stepha Henry, and Sakia Gunn( This was in Newark too. The Accompanying article lists another horrific crime committed against an 11 year old girl by 19 men and boys! Jesus! Just. Just. Jesus!). Folks are ticked off over Marcie Crane, Kireasha Pam Linkhome, Shirley Geanes, Latoya Natasha Thomas, Dymashal Lashon Cullins, Tyesha Patrice bell, Daphne Philisia Jones, Tamika Antoinette Huston, and all the other Black women that go missing while MSNBC focuses on what Paris Hilton is wearing when she goes to jail.

Now some of you have already made it to step FIVE. Knock yourselves out. You continue to have policy arguments about critical race theory, gender politics, and the socio economic political ramifications of what is happening around us, and we'll keep hanging out around stage TWO. I have the feeling we are going to be there a while because right when we get ready to get to stage THREE, something else will happen.

So maybe it isn't that the LEAGUE OF THE IMMORALLY INDIFFERENT does not care or is ineffective, inept, inconsistent, and irreparable harmed by their silence on the Dunbar Village gang rape. Maybe they are just hanging out at stage ONE hoping we'll move quickly to stage FIVE. Not happening! Unfortunately for them, they have appointed themselves as "leaders" and accept millions in membership dues and corporate donations with an understanding that they will do the things that they said they would do. It doesn't help that they are making statements on behalf dogs while remaining silent about the plight of Black women and girls.

You see, even though I am on STEP TWO and so are a lot of folks are right now, we still get up and go to work. What does this have to do with the League of the Immorally Indifferent?

Well even though they are apparently on STAGE ONE, their jobs require that the act ANYWAY while working themselves through. So they can either pull their heads out of the sand, or we will assist them in doing so. Because I have the feeling that folks at STAGE TWO are going to be there a while and the longer the "leaders" stay at STAGE ONE, the longer we'll be at STAGE TWO and the more pure unadulterated hell they can expect because the crowd gathering at stage TWO gets larger EVERY DAY! If we have to drag the leaders chilling out at stage ONE to stage TWO, so be it! Because their days of denial are over!

PPS. I know this is the argument for why we have to find new leadership including Black women leaders. They are out there and folks are working on it. Maybe this immoral indifference is part of the Universe's plan. Only our "leaders" being silent over such horrific crimes could force us out of stage ONE!

A Call to ARMS!

Didn't I tell y'all that something else is afoot here. Which is why the continued silence from the League of the Immorally Indifferent is so perplexing. Each day they remain silent about violent crime committed against Black folks is a day they cement their own fates due to ineffectiveness and inaction.

Over at Eurweb there is an interesting post by Ricardo Hazell called
THE SAGA CONTINUES: A CALL TO ARMS: Forget Iraq, the war for black America is at home! He is talking about his reaction to the Newark killings.

People are asking why this sort of thing happens, and that is a valid question. The answer, though simple, is a difficult one to come to grips with. The simple fact is black lives are seen as having little to no value by some black people themselves. Perhaps I should say a certain type of black person. We can talk all day about outreach programs and anti-gang units and so forth, meanwhile our children are dying and dying and dying some more.

PREACH!

I am sick of seeing Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on TV saying how much of a shame these losses are without really doing anything about it and I'm tired of the police promising to add more patrol cars and politicians that promise to lower the urban crime rate year after year. May God forgive me for feeling this way. Again, this hatred may go away tomorrow, but today I say these people have to go by any and all means necessary!

Y'all I think he is basically saying we need to arm ourselves against the criminals and take them out since the police and politicians seem unwilling and unable to.

Earlier today I told y'all to read why what is now going on is not the usual howling at the moon about all that is wrong in the world. There is something different going on in a post-Imus world over at Why Black Women are Angry.

"Niagra Movement" for Black Women Being Born

Read why what is now going on is not the usual howling at the moon about all that is wrong in the world. There is something different going on in a post-Imus world.

I don't know all the details at this point, but when I do, you know y'all will be the first to know. If Don Imus was the Arch Duke Ferdinand of a battle between Black folks with common sense and those without, then the RADIO SILENCE on the Dunbar Village gang rape is the Pearl Harbor that is going to draw Black women from the sidelines.

If the "self appointed" leaders refuse to speak out or take steps to protect the Black community, ALL of THEM, then we must take steps to defend ourselves. If the organizations that hold themselves out as being focussed on the needs of the Black community are throwing conventions and banquets and awards ceremonies while ROME BURNS, then they need to shutter their doors and turn in their charters. If they are too archaic and incompetent to meet 21st century problems with 21st century methods, then WE WILL DO what THEY CANNOT or WILL NOT DO!

Don't worry moi will not be "leading " anything. I am a general, not a diplomat. Other folks are going to take the lead. That is the way it should be. We all have our roles to play. No single one of us can do everything.

Let the League of Industrious Black Women ( and those who love and care about us) be born! Don't worry y'all that is not the name of the group. Also, I know that Arch Duke Ferdinand and Pearl Harbor were from two different wars. Here at WAOD, we love to mix the metaphors.

NAACP Contacts WADO- National Office Won't Be Speaking Out On Dunbar Village- Addressing Hate Crimes Against Black Women Not 'Mission'

Ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. Mission of the NAACP.

Apparently somebody at the NAACP can't tell the difference between "and" and "or."

It is What It Is.

I just had an enlightening conversation with Richard McIntyre(sp) from the NAACP's National Office in Baltimore. First, despite this story being about a month old, nobody in the NAACP National Office had apparently heard of it. Second, they were so late in returning my call because they don't check their voicemail ( his words not mine). Third, the NAACP does not get involved in Black on Black crime at the National level because it is not the result of racism. Fourth, the local Florida branch will be going to West Palm Beach on Monday(I'd ask why it took them over a month, but we have bigger battles to fight). Fifth, when asked point blank whether they would have become involved if the West Palm Beach victim had been attacked by White teenagers, Mr. McIntyre said the NAACP would probably become involved at the National level.

Mr. Mcintyre kept referring to the crimes at Dunbar Village as if they were your run of the mill crime and not an assault on humanity and civilization. When asked whether they had become involved in the dragging death of James Byrd, a hate crime, Mr. McIntyre replied that he believed that the NAACP did become involved in that case. When I pointed out that this woman appeared to be targeted because of her national origin and gender, Mr. McIntyre conceded that both of those classifications are protected classes.

Mr Mcintyre instructed me to read in order to explain why the NAACP National Office will not become involved in Dunbar Village. I have. My question for him is have the folks at the NAACP read their mission?

This was truly an "educational " experience and I actually was shocked at his candor and I thank him for it. Now that we know the narrow mission of the organization, you can adjust your dues payments accordingly. I have offered Mr. McIntyre all the space he needs on WAOD to rebut anything I have said describing our conversation. He seemed perturbed that I didn't see fit to reason with him. He kept saying " I wasn't hearing [him]." He then implied that we are just after headlines. DUH. We stated that openly that this case isn't getting nearly the attention that it should if the employees in the national office of something called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People don't know about one of the most heinous hate crimes committed against a "colored" person I have heard of in recent history.

He also said that he had heard of me so I guess I am on the LIST of Belligerent Working Class Black Folk. Well good, because he is on OUR LIST!

Don't be mad at Mr. McIntyre. Thank him for his candor. He was honest enough to tell us that the NAACP is only interested in the advancement of colored people n cases where that advancement is inhibited by White folk. If he had not told us so, we would have just kept speculating. Now we know that the NAACP does not become involved in crimes unless the attacker is non-African American so the folks in Newark MIGHT get some response out of the NAACP. Apparently they haven't seen the statistics that Black folks make up 50% of the homicides in this country, but only 13% or the population and 85% of the time when a "Colored" person is slaughtered, it is by another "Colored " person. They have a specialty and that is that....

I just have to ask... How the hell can "Colored" people be "advanced" when they are dying in droves? What good is your housing initiative if you can't be secure inside of your house? What good is promoting education and economic empowerment, if you get gunned down over a parking lot on your way home from work?

So it looks like we know which side they are on in the War on Black Women. The answer is NOT OURS! That is very good to know. Y'all might not like it, but it is what it is.

I am struck by this prong of their mission:" To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens." The residents of the housing projects of Dunbar Village would beg to differ.

F.Y.I. Don't hold your breath waiting on any presidential candidates addressing Dunbar Village. it slipped my mind that Florida is a "battleground state." Another blogger pointed that out to me today.

P.S. Bruce Gordon.... Now I understand COMPLETELY!

For a look at a 21st century organization addressing 21st century problems, check out the Harlem Children's Zone.

Updated List of the "Immorally Indifferent"- Media Contact Info - Presidential Sweepstakes.

We've expanded the List of Immoral Indifference to the Dunbar Village gang rape. ( If someone is erroneously on this list, let me know and I will be elated to scratch their name off. I would be happy to have no list at all!We've expanded the list in the name of gender equity.) For a list of almost every African American Organization known to man go here.

For a list of the Original Members of the List of the Immorally Indifferent You still need to keep calling and emailing the original group, they ought to be even more embarrassed if the new additions come out first as the Original Members had almost a 96 hour head start.(We'll keep adding names to the list)

New Editions to the List of the Immorally Indifferent on Dunbar Village

National Council of Negro Women, Inc
Telephone: (202) 737-0120
Email: ncnwinfo@ncnw.org
Why on the list? Extraordinary educator and political leader Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) founded NCNW in 1935 and envisioned it to be an "organization of organizations" that would represent the national and international concerns of Black women. It would also give Black women the opportunity to realize their goals for social justice and human rights through united, constructive action. ( taken verbatim from their web site.)

National Coalition of 100 Black Women
Email:NC100BW@aol.com
Telephone: Office: 212.222.5660

Why on the list? "[T]he National Coalition of 100 Black Women has been created to establish a leadership forum for Black Women from all geopolitical and socioeconomic groups whose overall mission is to provide a national and international medium through which they can develop, initiate and implement action plans designed to pursue social, economic and political gains"

National Organization For Women (NOW) Action Center
Email Contact Form ( see Katie's sample if you don't know what to write)
Phone:(202) 628-8669 (628-8NOW)
Why on the list? They didn't have a problem issuing a press release during the Duke case.

Presidential Sweepstakes

( Katie has model e-mails in the comments.Copy, paste, insert.)

At this point I don't care which one of the 65 declared candidates for President of the United States issues a statement a) chronicling the horror of Dunbar Village, b) listing info for the victim's assistance fund, c) calling on the city, county, state to either make Dunbar Village safe or get out to the residential housing business ( I don't care that folks are paying $150 a month, some governmental entity held themselves out to be offering shelter suitable for human habitation. Clearly it ain't) d) point out that the city could have seen this coming a mile away as this one complex received 650 717 police calls in a single year, e) highlighting that the media spent more time talking about Mel B, Eddie Murphy, and Iris than this case, f) point out that seven of the ten suspects remain at large to continue to prey on the community, g) for good measure point out the moral inconsistency of folks who wail at the moon if a Black person is assaulted or killed by a White person , but have been radio silent on Dunbar Village, the Newark massacre , and Chauncey Bailey.

So rev up the e-mail and the phone calls. Leave a comment for which candidate makes a statement first. And they can't just put it on their website. It only counts if one other place mentions it as well. I don't care if the one other entity is the church newsletter. Any candidate. Any party. At this point I don't care who it is. A certain candidate who I may NEVER mention in this site EVER in life has had a 96-hour lead and despite the assurances of "staff", hasn't produced a thing. Let's see how long it takes the rest of them to get a clue and have a high school intern crank up the word processor and mimeograph machine.

CABLE TELEVISION

Please ask these folks to spend 1 minute for each hour they spend talking about Eddie, Mel B, Baby Iris, Lindsey, Nicole Richie and child, Paris, Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh, Angelina, and Brad, to talk about Dunbar Village or any of the crimes I've mentioned. Most of their contact info can be found here.

The List of Immoral Indifference is Growing - Obama Aides Give Conflicting info-Didn't know?

Well folks, the "List of Immoral Indifference" related to the Dunbar Village gang rape will be growing this afternoon. In the interest of gender equity, I am going to be adding "women's rights" groups who OUGHT to be outraged that apparently it is open season down in West Palm Beach, Florida on African American women.

I just got off the phone with Obama's Washington office. Now yesterday the girl answering the phone said, rather dismissively, that a statement was being written and would available in two hours. I looked....no statement. So when I got home from the NPR interview, where I made sure to mention the Senator's championing of convicted child molester Genarlow Wilson while ignoring this case, I mentioned Obama in the group of Black "leaders" who appear to be suffering from a bout of Immoral Indifference related to one of the most horrific hate crimes committed against the Dunbar Village victim and another woman less than a mile away weeks later.

So today when I called a young man answered and didn't know what I was talking about so I gave him the 30 recitation of the horror. Clueless, but assured me he was going to pass on my comments to the Senator. He didn't ask for any contact info so I won't be holding my breath. We'll just keep hammering away at him. Now wouldn't it be a shame if Hillary Clinton issued a statement about Dunbar Village before Obama did?

I am putting together a new list with new e-mails and phone numbers, including women's groups. We are going to make these people earn their corporate donations and membership dues. I don't care if they are crooks and charlatans, they are holding themselves out to be champions of the Black and the poor so STEP UP!

FYI, after my pressure goes down, I will tell y'all about my run in with the receptionist answering the phones at the NAACP National Headquarters. If her indifference was not so appalling, it would be funny.

National Week, Month, Year of Shame-" Immoral Indifference"- I'll be on NPR Today

I'll be I was on the NPR Blogger Roundtable today.

This "Special Edition" of the blog will continue in perpetuity as far as I am concerned. This SILENCE about this horrific crime is an abomination. Please read yesterday's post and the list of Black"leaders" who have ignored what I think is one of the most vicious hate crimes I have heard of in recent memory, the gang rape at Dunbar Village. Please keep calling and writing.

IF you need an example of what to say, you can go read some sample emails from Katie in the comments section. Katie is far more *cough* diplomatic *cough* that I am ( I know my limitations! :)) I will actually be adding a list of African American women's groups to the list of the "Immorally Indifferent" ( we must be evenhanded in our criticism).

Last but certainly not least, it is not just Dunbar Village that our "leaders" are being silent about, but a series of heartbreaking Black on Black crimes including the report yesterday of the execution of three and the serious injury of young promising African American teenagers in Newark, NJ. Mayor Corey Booker has his hands full. I think one of the victims' father said it best:

“I just want to say that I don’t blame you for what happened,” said James Harvey, the young man’s father, his eyes teary. “I blame the parents in this city for not raising their children right.”

Preach! Preach!

Now I know I am going to receive comments saying that it is wrong to blame parents for their children's actions. Because placing blame ( or assigning personal responsibility) is something some folks have an aversion to no matter how heinous the crime. To those folks battling with me in the comments section over my view on these heinous crimes and blaming poverty and the federal government for personal choices, I will say this over and over again POOR PEOPLE ARE NOT INHERENTLY MORE VIOLENT THAN ANYONE ELSE. Plenty of poor people live their lives in a moral and upright way and are the salt of the earth so something else is going on to make you line up four teenagers on their knees against a wall and shoot them in the head. Poverty in and of itself does not flip some switch in the brain and cause you to view your fellow woman or man as prey.

I personally think that it is the systematic destruction of the Black family and I think that the Poverty Industrial Complex has done more to destroy the fabric of the Black family and Black community than Jim Crow or slavery ever did. IF anything Jim Crow forced us closer together out of sheer necessity.

I know I am radical for suggesting that piling a bunch of poor Black folks in an enclave and leaving them to fend for themselves while they are turned into prey and sitting ducks is immoral and cruel, but I'm going to keep saying it. It is IMMORAL and CRUEL!

But go ahead and speak on it. The debate in the comments has been interesting and enlightening.

For those wanting to help the victims of the Dunbar Village attack:

Checks can be made payable to the Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund-St. Ann. They can be dropped off at any Wachovia branch or mailed to: St. Ann Catholic Church, 310 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33401. The church’s phone number is (561) 832-3757. (SOURCE)